New infographic: 9 ways to improve child survival

Obstetric care: 1.4 million deaths among mothers and newborns and stillbirths could be prevented each year by providing high-quality care during labor and delivery at a cost of less than $1 per person in the general population. Illustration: PATH.

Too often, proper care and lifesaving health tools and innovations are not within reach for women and newborns in low- and middle-income countries. While great progress has been made to improve child health across the globe, one area that continues to lag behind is newborn survival.

Today, newborn deaths make up a growing proportion of under-five mortality: 44 percent of all deaths among children younger than five years old happen during the first 28 days of life.

Yet, the majority of maternal and newborn deaths can be prevented with the delivery of existing interventions across the reproductive, maternal, and newborn health continuum of care.

Foundation for the future: Healthy mothers and newborns lay the foundation for healthy families and communities. Taking simple steps to support maternal and newborn survival is a cost-effective way to ensure babies can grow into healthy children and mothers live to celebrate their children’s birthdays. Illustration: PATH.

Preventable maternal and newborn deaths can be stopped. Policymakers, donors, and the global community can help through sustained investments that support evidence-based health programming and funding for research and development to advance and deliver priority health innovations.